Here is session 5 of my 4e homebrew Ruboryn Campaign. If you haven’t been reading along, you can go back and catch episodes I through IV, posted on 1/14, 1/15, 1/19, and 1/24 of this year (2010).
Cast of Characters
Adventuring Party:
Lakatosh: Male Human Bard
Thorn Dayereth: Male Shifter Warlock
Bodoka Vespana: Female Human Fighter
Cildain Delvehammer: Male Dwarven Shaman
Torrin Steelfist: Male Dwarven Warden
Narrash: Male Shifter Avenger
Current NPCs
Percy Taglin: Informant the party was told to seek in Rabin, a veritable fountain of information.
Aidley: Desert Farmer outside of Rabin, requested that party rid his farm of trouble.
Selipsy: Informant in Treemore that told the party to seek Percy and make their way to Fasthor to free the captives.
Lord Regas: Royal Guard-Knight sent to find Bodoka.
Benhoven: Bodyguard of Lord Regas.
Duke Elias Heras: Nobleman ruler of Duchy on western continent of Geramoore.
Part I: Shopping in Rabin
After defeating the fire elementals and flame snakes that were infesting Aidley’s farm, he thanked them by taking possession of the bleeding ruby and assuring them that he would dispose of it properly. The party returned to Rabin to purchase supplies for their trip to Fasthor. While finishing up their shopping spree in the Rabin Market District, Percy summons the party and tells them that he has discovered the origin of the royal seal they saw on the guard’s armor… It’s the Royal Seal of Elias Heras, Duke of Fordenton. Fordenton is a large duchy on the continent of Geramoore, to the west of Chuviel (the continent they are on now). It is, however, an old seal of Fordenton – from before the last Bane War, which is why Percy didn’t immediately recognize it.
The party agrees that it is a curious bit of information, but they decide to put the issue on the back burner and head towards Fasthor as soon as they can. Time is running out and they want to rescue the captive alive.
Part II: Desert Battles and Requests
About 2 miles outside of Rabin, in the middle of the desert, next to a large pile of sandstone rocks, the group comes upon a couple of men fighting a huge scorpion. Two men are alive and four are dead and strewn around the battlefield. In the midst of battle, one of the two men falls and the party protects him and helps defeat the scorpion and a huge desert spider that crept into the battle.
After the battle and a few minutes rest, the party finds that these men are actually Lord Regas and his personal bodyguard (Benhoven) from the house of Fordenton. They have come to find Bodoka. They want Bodoka to return with them to Geramoore for an audience with Duke Heras.
They tell the party that Jillian, Bodoka’s previous charge, has been found and cared for by the Duke and his family. They say that she cries out in the night for Bodoka. After a somewhat strained negotiation, the party accompanies Lord Regas and Benhoven back to Rabin. Narrash, Thorn, and Cildain are particularly concerned that the story of the little girl (Jillian) is a ploy to lure Bodoka away under false pretenses. They cite the fact that the last men to wear armor with the Seal of the House of Fordenton upon it had seemingly malicious intent when they took Bodoka from the Dragon’s Lair, unconscious, by what the group suspects was the guard’s own doing.
The party eventually agrees to meet Lord Regas in Fasthor and to discuss taking Bodoka back to their homeland by ship at that time. That is, if she chooses to do so, and only after she helps the group finish its current task to completion. Lord Regas seems impressed with Bodoka’s honorable loyalty. The party then leaves Rabin and, once again, starts the trip to Fasthor.
Part III: Forested Cemetery?
As the party continues toward Fasthor, they crest a sandy hill and see what looks like a large building with green foliage covering the top of it.
As they approach the building, they see a rectangular structure with a medium sized door in the middle of the southern wall. The rectangular ‘building’ is huge – probably 170 feet of length on the side running from north to south and 230 feet on the side running from east to west. As they near the building they see that the foliage is not growing on top of the building, but growing from the ground on the other side of the wall ‘inside‘ the building. i.e. there is no roof, it’s just got so much foliage that it looks like it has a roof.
The party investigated the large wooden door leading into the building and found that the doors were covered in many different holy symbols. The players decide that it may be a sort-of non-denominational hall of worship. When they enter the large doors, they find that they have entered a large forested area and what amounts to a very well maintained garden style outdoor cemetery. There are a few large gravestones here and there, and about 30 feet inside the walls, directly in front of them, they see a wrought iron fence, about 3 feet high, surrounding the cemetery proper, with a small chapel on one corner.
The party looks around and reads gravestones with various human-sounding names on them. The tomb-stones mark people of various ages, from children to adults, but seemingly no one older than 40 years. After they have been looking around the cemetery for about 5 minutes, they notice that the sky has gotten visibly darker, though it is about 2 in the afternoon. After 2 or 3 more minutes, the temperature has dropped drastically and it starts to snow, heavily. The party decides to inspect the chapel and, as they approach the doors, 12 skeletons rise out of the ground and start walking toward the party!
As the party fights for their lives in the freezing cold, 2 more skeletons come in from behind the other skeletons, seemingly urging them onward and 2 big skeletons are spotted standing near the entry doors to the chapel. The group fights an arduous battle in the snowy cemetery, but manages to prevail without serious injury. After the fight they converge on the chapel doors and enter the small building to get out of the snow.
The inside of the chapel smells sour and putrid, like rotting flesh in a room that hasn’t gotten proper air for a long while. The walls and floor are weathered sandstone, gritty and crumbly, yet sturdy. The entry hall (and apparently the rooms beyond) are well lit, seemingly more well lit than the torches lining the walls would be able to provide. There is a large symbol on the floor which, upon further inspection, appears to have been drawn in blood. The group hears echoes that are too faint to be able to tell what is being said or the language being spoken. The voices/noise seems to grow nearer to and then travel pass by the PCs, then surrounds them, then fades out and in, in a creepy, ghostly sort of way.
As we end this episode, the party is standing in the entry hall, contemplating the merits of entering further into the chapel or leaving the cemetery to get to Fasthor.
Thus end Episode V…
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I hope you all enjoy the session reports here – just a little diversion and a look at how a different story is unfolding… The next two sessions have no pictures, but after that you will get to see visuals with the reports (exciting!).
Until next time, I wish you good gaming.
~DM Samuel
This D&D 4e session took place on August 7, 2009 and this report was also posted on rpg.geekdo.com, though in a slightly different format.